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Post by Michael on Oct 26, 2005 19:43:19 GMT -5
religion isnt exactly what you think... there are many religions, and each of them worship the Lord, or their "god" in a different way. Christians don't worship God only on Sundays, worship can come in many different types of ways, prayer is worship, because you are in connection with God, asking and talking to him. So i think you should refraze what you said about religion, because some religions are right in their beliefs, some are wrong... because there has to be a right and a wrong between them... there are way too many religions, and they dont all worship the same god. Anyways, you have religion all wrong, and should think through what your writing before you write it. First, I believe that Bethany had it right when she desribed the church. I am Pentacostal and I know that some of the beliefs of the church are actually convictions that the church has taken on. For instance, Bethany. Not singling you out or anything, you just mentioned jeans is all. lol.... Anyways, my church believes or has taken on the conviction that women should not wear mans apparel. Meaning pants, shorts, etc. . . if there's anything more than that. Why? Because in Deuteronomy 22:5 it says "the women shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment." But I do not believe that it is a heaven or hell issue. I believe that it is something that would be between the person and God. But this "rule" about clothing is something that churched shove into new converts' faces. Along with the other trillion "rules". So the church is actually running off people because of their judging and not allowing the new convert to really learn and understand before taking on all these things. And all religion is wrong unless you are following God and His Word. If anything you believe contradicts His Word I'd check into it and see what's up. Today we (as Christians) cannot afford to be confused about what we believe. Christ's coming is at hand more so than it has ever been before. If you believe that you are a Christian but you practice things of another religion then you cannot be. Anyone cannot afford to believe in something other than what is written in the Bible. If you find yourself being wrong in some areas in your beliefs, I'd read God's Word and see what He says about it. Or else you may be left out in the Rapture due to your beliefs. So I think I can say that all religion is wrong unless it is the beliefs of the Bible. In repentence is part of the process of salvation, Guardian. How can you repent unless you are sorry, and if you are not sorry how can you repent? You'd just be lying. . . We are not calling religion a crime. We are meerly pointing out the judgmental parts of it. . . mainly in the rules and regulations. I mean, rules are good and you must have them to live life. . . and a godly one at that. But when people are turning away from God because of how some people have brought their beliefs across is wrong. God never meant for that to happen, I'm sure. Are you Baptist, Guardian, by the way. Because it seems as if you believe in "once saved always saved". . . but that's not the point. I was just wondering. *Note. . . sometimes when I post long posts I get confused in what I'm writing about. . . and to make it worse, I'm tired. So if I've posted something not pertaining to what we are talking about, sorry, lol...
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Post by guardian on Oct 26, 2005 20:14:35 GMT -5
lol and swiss tastes good too!
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Post by bethany54 on Oct 27, 2005 2:21:41 GMT -5
religion isnt exactly what you think... there are many religions, and each of them worship the Lord, or their "god" in a different way. Christians don't worship God only on Sundays, worship can come in many different types of ways, prayer is worship, because you are in connection with God, asking and talking to him. So i think you should refraze what you said about religion, because some religions are right in their beliefs, some are wrong... because there has to be a right and a wrong between them... there are way too many religions, and they dont all worship the same god. I do agree with much of what you say here but I also know that going to church does not necessarily make anyone a Christian anymore than going to a garage makes a person a car. Anyways, you have religion all wrong, and should think through what your writing before you write it. I have thought this through and I stand firm in my belief that "religion" is not necessarily a good thing. It is still some guy's interpretation of God whoever that may be to the believer of that religion. I am now 51 years old and I have studied many major religions because I found them interesting. I have read many of the major writings of the major religions found in the world along with many writings from the different sects that have split off from other branches of religions. Religions are made by man to try and explain God. Religion says what people should do to gain acceptance by God but quite often those rules were made by men who wanted to justify or oppress the masses of people whom they ruled. I also believe that religion is an attempt to manipulate at times. We read of "Holy Wars" Many times this "Holy War" was between 2 Christian based religions. For centuries, the Catholics and Protestants fought Holy Wars, killing thousands in the Name of the One True God. dictionary.reference.com/search?q=Catholic Definition dictionary.reference.com/search?q=protestant Definition Even in the defintions of those two words we see division. God did not cause that division. Man caused that. Centuries ago, before the invention of the printing press, there were very few actual written Bibles or other books. Each book had to be copied very painstakingly letter by letter to whatever passed as paper in those days. The average person could not read nor even needed to know how to read because there was nothing for them to read. So powerful men told people what God said. Often times it was what those men really wanted the people to believe rather than anything God actually said. And now centuries later we still believe many of those things because they were handed down to us through time. America was founded because King George thought he could dictate what people should believe. I have a choice today. I can choose to be in a relationship with God or I can be bound by believing that I am not worthy enough ot smart enough to hear God speak to me today in Living Words that free me. God is alive and He isn't mute. He still speaks but often we don't listen. True Christianity is being a follower of Jesus. So again I have a choice, I can follow Jesus or I can follow a religion. I choose to follow Jesus. I might be wrong but still it is my choice and I will be judged accordingly. also, its not our fault that man created these rules that many religions believe are true, and that may hurt people, we are not perfect, and God knew that we wouldn't be perfect... But, he will allways love you, he does not hate, he can be dissapointed, or sad, but not hate. he will allways forgive you if you apologize and meen it. Although, you dont "have" to apologize... you can accept Christ into your heart, and do some sins, and not apoligize for them... but still go to Heaven, because once the Lord is truely with you, he will never leave you. you speak about religion as if it were a crime... but humans are not perfect... we all make mistakes. I agree completely with you on the first part of this paragraph but I don't believe that you can knowingly sin and expect a reward on Judgement Day. God does not leave us ever but we leave Him continuosly. Everytime we choose to do those things that we know are wrong, we take a little step away from God. God doesn't care for apology nearly as much as He cares about right relationships. We see it in the parable of the prodigal son. That boy thought that he knew more than his father and he was jealous of his brother so he demanded from his father what he thought was owed to him and he left home to make his own life. It wasn't long before he began to understand that he knew little more than that the pigs his father raised had a better life than he did. The father was told that the son was on his way home so he prepared a feast, even before he saw with his own eyes, the wayward son. The father was so happy that his son had come home that he was willing to forgive anything and everything that had happened before. That is what love is all about. The son returned to the father in a repentant attitude. He took the steps to return to right relationship. If he had died during his time away, the relationship could not have been restored. Guardian, I have no idea how old you are or even what nationality but I do believe you to be young. Please don't take things so personally. As you age, you will find your own set of beliefs as you experience new things and new ideas. A lot of belief simply boils down to choice. What I didn't say earlier and will say now is that in my investigation of finding God, I joined many religious groups from many different traditions. I tried my best to believe what I was told to believe and prayed what and how I was told to pray. But it all rang false in my heart because God was trying to talk to me and only a small part of my heart could hear Him. When I finally gave up looking for God in religions, I found God standing waiting for me to turn to Him. He wasn't to be found in religion but He is found in relationship. I don't pray in big fancy words that were written by someone else. This morning I got up and the first thing I did was complain to God all the way to the bathroom about how much my body hurts. And while on the way back to my bed, I believe that God told me to look out my window. I looked and saw a glorious sunrise. I don't look out my window much because every step I take causes me lots of pain. I try to walk as little as possible. So that 8 foot detour was out of the ordinary for me. But God wanted to offer me some comfort in my pain so at His direction, I walked those extra 8 feet. I stood gazing out my window and forgot my pain for those few minutes. I also forgot that I was likely to fall so I forgot my fear of falling as well. You see Guardian, I am dying a painful death. I am confined to bed most of the time. I have nurses and aides and others that do all the "normal" things for me that I feel I should be able to do for myself. I can no longer cook for myself or clean my apartment and I can't even take a bath by myself. I hate many things about my life and if God wasn't here talking with me day and night, I would probably go crazy and do something very stupid. About 2 years when I was complaining to God, I asked why He left my mind intact in this painwracked body and made it so that I could no longer function on my own but needed to depend on others for my basic needs. At that time, I prayed every day to "die before I wake". I felt useless and so very depressed that I was almost to point of suicide. I could no longer take more than a few steps at a time and had to give up my pets along with the rest of my activities. I was becoming bitter. I kept crying out to God to explain Himself. I didn't want to live if this is what my life is to be. I lost hope. One day during that time, a friend came over with a 17 year old computer, saying that she at the school and that they were throwing it out. She thought that it might be something that I could use to re-connect with the world. That began a new chapter in my life. Now I had something that I could do from my bed. . . learn how to use a computer. That computer soon died as did another and another until finally one day a brand new computer arrived in a bunch of boxes from some people that I didn't even know. God was looking out for me. This computer has pretty much served me well after some beginning problems like a dead HD on arrival. But recently I realized that it wasn't adequate for me now since I have learned so much in a rather short amount of time. I didn't have enough RAM to even install or open some of the programs that I wanted to use. But God knew and told someone else to send me RAM for my birthday. Also for my birthday God sent me a new aide who actually knows what she is doing so God is proving Himself worthy of my love and proving His love for me daily. I did not learn any of this through religion or a church but by entering into a relationship with God. I define myself as Christian but will never again define myself by denomination. I do believe that God speaks to me through other people at times and some of those people are associated with demoninations but many are people like me who have rejected organized religion in favor of relationship with God. I will shut up now as soon as I say that I believe God inspired people to make cheese and that I am glad that He did because I ate cheese today with my red beans and rice and cornbread. It was sharp cheddar.
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Post by Michael on Oct 27, 2005 18:31:32 GMT -5
*applauds* BRAVO BETHANY BRAVO!!! I agree with a lot of what you said. Even though I catagorize myself as a Pentacostal, much of what you said is true. So once again, BRAVO.
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Post by bethany54 on Oct 28, 2005 23:18:13 GMT -5
Gosh I sure wrote a lot. I guess that I got rather passionate as well. I know what I believe and why I believe but more importantly I know in Whom I believe. I am such a cracked pot, broken and discarded but He loves me and I love Him. And
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Post by Michael on Oct 29, 2005 16:50:56 GMT -5
lol.... aye, you are. I am. . . but maybe not so passionate. . . but I guess you have better reasons to be.
PS- I </3 chocolate by itself. . . if its like reeses, whatchamacallit, snickers, etc. I'm good but plain chocolate. . . I barf. lol...
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Post by matthew on Oct 29, 2005 17:34:56 GMT -5
I love chocolate tooo ;D. I have a big 400g slab of Cadbury Dairy Milk Wholenut in the fridge ;D. I love Snickers too, and Bountys, Twix, but mostly i just devour slabs and slabs of various kinds of Dairy Milk EDIT: I love crunchie bars too ;D
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Post by Michael on Oct 29, 2005 18:33:07 GMT -5
*gag* ^_^
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Post by admin on Oct 30, 2005 1:21:53 GMT -5
Oh. I am a total chocoloholic!! I LOVE the stuff!!! Basically any kind of chocolate I'll eat! hehe My favourite is Reece's Peanut Butter cups. Just something about peanut butter and chocolate just seems like heaven to me. hehe Today, I had a bunch of Crispy Crunch
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Post by bethany54 on Oct 30, 2005 4:46:50 GMT -5
oh Shan and Mahud hush! I love those Crunchie bars and I can't get them here in the States without talking one of my Candian or English friends into sending me some. We don't have the Dairy Milk here either Just.Plain.Michael. Try putting plain chocolate on top of your moniter for an hour or so. Wait 'til it gets nice and melty and you have to lick it off the wrapper. That and a bit of cheese is ambrosia!
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Post by admin on Oct 30, 2005 12:36:19 GMT -5
I think living in Canada is the BEST! We get English chocolate like Crunchie and Dairy Milk, but we also get American chocolate like Hershey stuff It is like paradise!! LOL I send Hershey stuff to Matt sometimes
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Post by Michael on Oct 30, 2005 16:42:11 GMT -5
How? Isn't it like pershiable?
(lol... funny how went went from God's exsistance to chocolate. lol...)
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Post by Gwen on Oct 30, 2005 18:02:33 GMT -5
A friend brought some Hershey's back from America & i can quite honestly say i have never tasted anything so vile its gross! not chocolate! I'm a 'Galaxy' girl myself hmmmm, galaxy...
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Post by admin on Oct 30, 2005 18:06:04 GMT -5
I think with Hershey it depends on what kind of chocolate you get. Like the Hershey Kisses are really vile! But, like Oh Henry is very good! And I'm not sure.... but, for me, the Hershey I get is manufactured in Canada so it probably tastes different than the chocolate in the States. I haven't had Galaxy before. I bet it is devine, though Do you guys get Purdy's chocolate? Now, that is amazing!!! ;D
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Post by Michael on Oct 30, 2005 20:37:25 GMT -5
A friend brought some Hershey's back from America & i can quite honestly say i have never tasted anything so vile its gross! not chocolate! I'm a 'Galaxy' girl myself hmmmm, galaxy... AYE!!! VILE!!! lol... I agree. . . straight chocolate I cannot handle. . . what is a Galaxy? And Shan, I don't get Purdy's chocolate. . . but that's just for me. . . and around where I live in Fl.
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Post by matthew on Oct 30, 2005 21:32:06 GMT -5
I have enjoyed the pleasures of Peanut butter cups twice now, thanks to Shan . as far as i know we don't have any peanut butter chocolate bars here for some reason. the maple Oh Henry chocolate bar was really tasty
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Post by (((Thump))) *bounces* on Oct 30, 2005 23:05:52 GMT -5
I'm a sucker for Heath bars myself because English Toffee is just so yummy!! ;D
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A Christian with Science
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Post by A Christian with Science on Oct 31, 2005 1:19:04 GMT -5
Okay, I cannot debate this from a theological point of view(2 reasons, I just started growing as a Christian and I only read the first two pages). But heres Science to prove God exists. The atom obeys 3 major Laws(well it obeys physics but these 3 Laws are very important). 1) Atoms, thru interaction with the rest of the universe, will maintain the lowest energy possible. 2) Atoms, thru interaction with the rest of the universe, will attain the highest entropy(disorder) possible. Atoms, thru interaction with the rest of the universe, will try to attain 8 electrons in their valence shell. The first two Laws prove that a being as complex as humans and as hot as humans(20 deg internal temp above average temperate climate temperature) can not spontaneously arise(cannot evolve in laymans terms). The last law proves to serve consciouness cannot arise from a collection of atoms, bc all atoms 'care' about is having 8 electrons in it valence shell. So to those who say God doesnt exist, try to refute my evidence.
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Post by bethany54 on Oct 31, 2005 2:02:42 GMT -5
I have enjoyed the pleasures of Peanut butter cups twice now, thanks to Shan . as far as i know we don't have any peanut butter chocolate bars here for some reason. the maple Oh Henry chocolate bar was really tasty Shan send the poor guy some more Reeses! Chocolate and peanut butter are great together but I don't like the white ones or the insideout ones. My favorite chocolate at the moment (well for almost 2 years now) comes from New Jersey. A little shop called Critchley's makes a chocolate called "Mint Oritani" that is simply the best! And you know. . . science has proven that chocolate is good for you in small doses. It is supposed to be a deterent for some cancers. How anyone can eat chocolate, peanut butter, or cheese and think that God isn't real is delusional! Science dude, You get no disagreement from me. I know God is real.
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Post by Michael on Nov 2, 2005 22:53:12 GMT -5
YAY I sciencie person who believes in Intelligent Design! WHOOP WHOOP for the Christians! lol... And for whoever else who believes in I.D.
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